November 29, 2010

Even after the midterm rout that will remove many long-serving members from Congress, the idea that Mr. Lugar would be vulnerable to a primary challenge is a chilling notion to many Republicans, a symbol of symbolism gone too far.

“If Dick Lugar,” said John C. Danforth, a former Republican senator from Missouri, “having served five terms in the U.S. Senate and being the most respected person in the Senate and the leading authority on foreign policy, is seriously challenged by anybody in the Republican Party, we have gone so far overboard that we are beyond redemption.”

I’d say that if the GOP has started issuing seats like titles of nobility, without caring what the voters think, then that’s beyond redemption. Nobody should be immune to a primary challenge.

And “a symbol of symbolism gone too far?” Has the New York Times laid off all its ace copyeditors?

UPDATE: Reader David Gallagher emails:

I grew up in Monticello, Indiana and I can still remember Senator Richard Lugar giving our Senior Class a speech on the steps of the Capitol Building when we visited Washington for our Senior Trip.

I’ve got a very good memory, that was in 1978, and the members of that Senior class are 50 years old now. Since then I’ve become very politically active and I constantly discuss politics with other Hoosiers, particularly Conservatives and Tea partiers. I haven’t spoken to anyone here in Indiana who doesn’t loathe the fact that Lugar is still our Senator. Mark my words, he’s going down. In the last election we didn’t really have anything to fight for, Bayh had wisely retired, and in the third district where I live, liberals weren’t even showing their faces.

The next election will be different, Lugar is absolutely going to be primaried, that’s worth fighting for.

Last year there was a Senate bill concerning reciprocal honoring of concealed carry permits nationwide. It lost by one vote. Guess which of our Senators voted against it (hint: lame duck Bayh voted for the bill). Indiana already honors other states CCWs, so really Luger just voted against other States honoring Hoosier’s concealed carry permits. Who does the moron think he’s representing?